Welcome to another edition of Issues and Answers 00:00:31.04\00:00:33.38 Hey, have you ever stayed home because you didn't feel welcome 00:00:33.42\00:00:37.19 at a particular church so you didn't go to that church. 00:00:37.22\00:00:40.53 Or have you felt like boy I really would like to go some 00:00:40.56\00:00:43.89 place where I could feel welcome What do they really mean to 00:00:43.93\00:00:46.75 worship God and why do I need to do it amongst other people? 00:00:46.79\00:00:49.99 Well today we're going to learn about what it means to worship 00:00:50.03\00:00:53.20 God in joyful fellowship from the word of God, the Bible. 00:00:53.23\00:00:57.35 Now our guest today is Pastor Jason McCracken. He is a youth 00:00:57.38\00:01:00.84 evangelist for the Review and Herald Publishing Association 00:01:00.88\00:01:05.24 as well as a marketing representative. He helps with 00:01:05.28\00:01:08.01 the Message magazine 00:01:08.05\00:01:09.29 publication and has traveled around the globe speaking to 00:01:09.32\00:01:12.79 young people and everyone else about what it means to worship 00:01:12.82\00:01:15.61 God in a joyful way. We're grateful to have you here today. 00:01:15.65\00:01:18.41 Welcome to the program. Thank you Karen. 00:01:18.44\00:01:20.97 Well I'm very happy to be here today and I would like to focus 00:01:21.01\00:01:25.56 my attention on Bible foundations for the mission of 00:01:25.59\00:01:28.84 the local church before we get into worshipping God in a spirit 00:01:28.88\00:01:33.72 of holiness. When we look at the local church it's called a 00:01:33.76\00:01:38.61 congregation and in that congregation we have to have a 00:01:38.64\00:01:43.42 mission. It's empowered by the Holy Spirit. But there are some 00:01:43.46\00:01:50.00 areas that the local church must focus upon. Number one: It's 00:01:50.04\00:01:54.96 entire focus must be on the gospel message of Jesus Christ. 00:01:54.99\00:02:01.25 Secondly, the mission to make disciples. Thirdly, the ministry 00:02:01.29\00:02:07.52 of every believer; every believer focusing on preaching 00:02:07.55\00:02:10.89 the word of God, preaching the gospel of Jesus to their 00:02:10.92\00:02:14.19 community and their friends and family members. The role of the 00:02:14.23\00:02:18.01 function of the Spirit of God in the local congregation. 00:02:18.04\00:02:21.96 The church as the body of Christ growth to maturity in Christ, 00:02:22.00\00:02:26.86 the headship of Jesus Christ and the role and function of pastors 00:02:26.89\00:02:31.72 and lay leaders alike. This encapsulates the Bible 00:02:31.75\00:02:35.14 foundation for the mission of the local church. 00:02:35.17\00:02:38.53 So this is what churches do? 00:02:38.56\00:02:39.80 This is what they do in order to get excited. And so today we're 00:02:39.84\00:02:44.29 going to talk about the area of worship. First of all, before we 00:02:44.33\00:02:48.39 even do that I would like to read from the Bible here a very 00:02:48.43\00:02:52.57 familiar passage of scripture and we're going to read from the 00:02:52.61\00:02:56.72 book of Psalms. OK. Psalm 100, a very familiar text of 00:02:56.75\00:03:03.93 scripture to many Christian friends and believers. Psalm 100 00:03:03.97\00:03:09.67 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the 00:03:09.71\00:03:15.34 Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know 00:03:15.38\00:03:21.51 ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us and not 00:03:21.55\00:03:28.04 we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 00:03:28.08\00:03:34.54 Enter into his gates, that means the church, with 00:03:34.57\00:03:40.30 thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto 00:03:40.34\00:03:46.19 him and bless his name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is 00:03:46.23\00:03:51.52 everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations. 00:03:51.56\00:03:55.81 That means your mother's generation, our past generation, 00:03:55.84\00:04:00.40 all the generations. But now verse 1 says make a joyful 00:04:00.43\00:04:05.67 noise unto the Lord. That is one of the essentials in a 00:04:05.71\00:04:10.15 congregation. What kind of joyful noise are we going to 00:04:10.19\00:04:14.56 make? Well of course, we're going to sing hymns, we're going 00:04:14.60\00:04:19.24 praise God, we're going to pray, but in all of this we must 00:04:19.28\00:04:23.89 Acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 00:04:23.92\00:04:28.97 That's the basic essential in worship... 00:04:29.01\00:04:34.03 When that happens in a Christian church people can 00:04:34.07\00:04:39.11 begin to feel the Spirit of Holiness in worship. Because 00:04:39.15\00:04:43.85 worship is adoration. Worship is praise. Worship is singing to 00:04:43.89\00:04:52.04 God. Worship is actually, in a group situation, a church 00:04:52.07\00:04:56.67 situation it makes everyone feel that they are one with God. 00:04:56.71\00:05:01.48 So I can't do that at home, huh? Watching television? 00:05:01.51\00:05:04.35 For the most part? Well watching television does 00:05:04.38\00:05:09.14 not have a spontaneous reaction. Everything is controlled on 00:05:09.18\00:05:14.05 television. If you're worshipping God and 00:05:14.08\00:05:17.16 you're singing hymns and there is a response in the 00:05:17.20\00:05:20.82 congregation, there's some songs we used to sing when we used to 00:05:20.86\00:05:23.81 go camping. You know, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say 00:05:23.85\00:05:26.77 rejoice. And then it goes around and around and around. 00:05:26.80\00:05:29.14 Yeah, you miss the round. You miss the round. Yeah. 00:05:29.18\00:05:31.49 So on television, how do you program that? 00:05:31.52\00:05:32.83 And then if you don't go to church you don't get to share 00:05:32.87\00:05:35.93 that hymnal with that person who just came to sit by you. 00:05:35.97\00:05:40.17 Right. Remember worship is about fellowship, it's not about 00:05:40.20\00:05:44.03 sitting home, it's about fellowship. Because when people 00:05:44.06\00:05:47.82 are having difficulties in their lives they come to church and 00:05:47.86\00:05:53.40 express what God has done for them in worship and they 00:05:53.43\00:05:56.69 acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and they 00:05:56.72\00:06:00.35 also acknowledge him by being thankful for what God has done. 00:06:00.39\00:06:03.99 So that's the essential of worship. Worship of God in 00:06:04.02\00:06:09.50 joyful fellowship. So the times where a person goes 00:06:09.53\00:06:14.94 away to the mountains or goes out into nature, what about 00:06:14.98\00:06:19.19 those times? A person says OK I'm communicating with God in my 00:06:19.23\00:06:23.56 own way. Well we can communicate to God 00:06:23.59\00:06:27.60 because that's personal and we need to continue to communicate 00:06:27.64\00:06:31.97 to God, but as our communication grows, we must communicate to 00:06:32.01\00:06:36.98 others what God has done for us. It's interesting; let's say you 00:06:37.02\00:06:40.78 were driving a car and all of a sudden you had a car accident 00:06:40.81\00:06:44.54 and you're car flipped over three or four times and you 00:06:44.57\00:06:48.29 didn't even have a scratch. The car was crushed, everything, the 00:06:48.33\00:06:53.30 car was totaled but yet you were saved. Now would it be 00:06:53.33\00:06:58.69 adequate for you to go up in the rocks and mountains and tell the 00:06:58.73\00:07:02.71 trees that God has saved you, or in a relationship with people 00:07:02.74\00:07:06.09 in a church you would say look what the Lord has done for me. 00:07:06.12\00:07:11.63 And so you're encouragement now stimulates growth, it stimulates 00:07:11.67\00:07:17.15 joy. That's why it's based on fellowship. 00:07:17.18\00:07:20.53 And certainly it could encourage someone else to say I'm going 00:07:20.57\00:07:23.97 keep trying, maybe. That's right. That's the 00:07:24.00\00:07:26.70 community of believers. 00:07:26.73\00:07:28.11 I mean, I would like to hear that story if I was sitting in a 00:07:28.15\00:07:30.95 church. I've heard so many stories. 00:07:30.98\00:07:33.44 I remember I went to church one day. I was kind of sad, you know 00:07:33.48\00:07:36.93 and gloomy. We do have those ups and downs. Somebody gave a 00:07:36.96\00:07:42.11 testimony to just stir my soul. I was so excited. I said that's 00:07:42.14\00:07:47.26 why I should be in church because I want to hear what God 00:07:47.29\00:07:50.49 is doing for other people and at the same time what God's doing 00:07:50.53\00:07:56.09 for me. Amen. So that's the most important thing. Joyful noise, a 00:07:56.13\00:08:01.66 joyful noise. Number two:... 00:08:01.69\00:08:08.31 Now there are three things that we must emphasize: Praise him in 00:08:08.35\00:08:12.53 the worship services for number 1 his goodness, number 2 his 00:08:12.57\00:08:16.86 mercy, number 3 and blessings. So there are three things 00:08:16.90\00:08:21.12 Goodness: Have you ever heard somebody say God is good all the 00:08:21.16\00:08:27.34 time. Yeah, All the time God is good. 00:08:27.37\00:08:29.33 And so that's goodness. God helps us through many different 00:08:29.37\00:08:33.45 facets in our lives. He helps our family, our friends, our 00:08:33.48\00:08:37.47 health, our life, our breathing, our walking, our talking, our 00:08:37.51\00:08:42.05 sitting up, our sitting down. I mean he is there to provide for 00:08:42.08\00:08:46.59 us. That's why he's so good. He saves us. He protects us. 00:08:46.62\00:08:50.57 He leads us. He guides us. And without God we can do nothing. 00:08:50.60\00:08:54.49 I remember my grandmother used to sing the song without God I 00:08:54.52\00:08:58.05 can do nothing, without God I would fail. I would be like a 00:08:58.09\00:09:02.21 ship without a sail. I didn't understand the song. Now I do. 00:09:02.24\00:09:07.20 I can understand the song now because without God I'm like a 00:09:07.24\00:09:12.43 ship without a sail. I'm going nowhere. But with God, because 00:09:12.46\00:09:17.61 he is so good to us, he provides what we need, that spiritual 00:09:17.65\00:09:22.82 food, that spiritual food. And also physical food. Mental food 00:09:22.86\00:09:27.60 like a logical food. He helps us in every facet of our lives. 00:09:27.63\00:09:32.34 The mercy: This is very interesting. What is mercy? 00:09:32.37\00:09:36.99 What do you think mercy is? 00:09:37.02\00:09:39.37 Compassion when you know that someone's in a tight situation 00:09:39.41\00:09:43.98 and then you ought to help them out or maybe don't point out all 00:09:44.02\00:09:48.56 their faults. Mercy to me is like the last resort. I mean, 00:09:48.59\00:09:54.95 God is helping me in the time of a storm and I feel that the 00:09:54.98\00:09:59.89 storm is going to take control of me. The storm is going to 00:09:59.93\00:10:04.77 overwhelm me. I was in a tent and this violent storm ripped 00:10:04.81\00:10:08.80 through the woods. Lightening bolts were ripping through the 00:10:08.84\00:10:12.80 woods knocking down trees. We're in the tent at night. 00:10:12.83\00:10:16.00 We're like praying Oh God help us. Trees are falling. In fact, 00:10:16.04\00:10:21.48 we didn't know it was a tornado. We had no way of knowing it was 00:10:21.51\00:10:26.66 a tornado. But he impressed us to go in the valley and in the 00:10:26.69\00:10:30.89 valley that's where we were saved. When we came up from the 00:10:30.92\00:10:35.09 mountain the entire place was leveled. 00:10:35.12\00:10:37.50 So what did you do? Did you actually come out of the tent 00:10:37.54\00:10:39.32 then go or had you already encamped in the valley? 00:10:39.35\00:10:41.37 We were in the tent late at night sleeping and then all of a 00:10:41.41\00:10:44.73 sudden all of this was happening but the tent was rocking back 00:10:44.77\00:10:48.41 and forth. I had an igloo tent and so it was rocking back and 00:10:48.45\00:10:51.52 forth and now we're pleading with God. We're pleading for 00:10:51.55\00:10:54.86 mercy, we're pleading for mercy now, not just for protection 00:10:54.90\00:10:59.14 but for mercy because now our lives are in so much danger that 00:10:59.17\00:11:03.11 we could die at any moment. That's the mercy that we needed 00:11:03.15\00:11:07.44 to ask and we got it. I'm here today to testify of that. That's 00:11:07.48\00:11:11.74 that mercy. And so it's an extended help when we need it. 00:11:11.77\00:11:14.89 You know, I often think about a person maybe who is terminally 00:11:14.93\00:11:21.05 ill and they die. That in a way is mercy. I mean, I've seen many 00:11:21.08\00:11:27.12 people who've died of cancer or some illness and God gives them 00:11:27.15\00:11:33.16 mercy in that don't have pain those last few days. That's 00:11:33.19\00:11:36.29 mercy. Yes, that's mercy, that's mercy. 00:11:36.32\00:11:39.45 The other is blessings: Now with the goodness that we receive, 00:11:39.49\00:11:43.60 the mercy that we receive, the forgiveness that we receive here 00:11:43.64\00:11:47.72 comes the blessings, the blessings. Now blessings people- 00:11:47.75\00:11:52.34 As I travel around people say How you doing. I say I'm blessed 00:11:52.38\00:11:56.58 They say you're blessed? I say yeah I'm blessed. I'm blessed to 00:11:56.62\00:12:00.79 be alive. I'm blessed to be healthy. I'm blessed not to be 00:12:00.82\00:12:07.38 crippled. I'm blessed just to breath with lungs. There are 00:12:07.41\00:12:13.38 people who are breathing with one lung. I'm blessed just to be 00:12:13.41\00:12:19.35 alive. So those blessings are coming. 00:12:19.38\00:12:22.12 Everything we have really, if we look around, we can see a 00:12:22.16\00:12:26.76 blessing. We can see a blessing. Even when 00:12:26.79\00:12:31.97 you're down to your lowest level of spirituality sometimes here 00:12:32.01\00:12:37.63 comes a blessing. Yeah that's encouraging. 00:12:37.66\00:12:40.80 Someone said every trial's a stepping stone. 00:12:40.83\00:12:43.90 It's a stepping stone. Well the Bible says in James 1:3: Knowing 00:12:43.94\00:12:46.86 this that the trying of your faith worketh patience, or the 00:12:46.89\00:12:50.68 testing of your faith worketh patience. Sometimes a blessing 00:12:50.71\00:12:54.47 comes by teaching us patience. 00:12:54.50\00:12:56.26 Yeah, that does become a blessing especially if you did 00:12:56.30\00:12:59.15 not have it before then if you hadn't experienced that 00:12:59.18\00:13:02.00 situation. And if you have children, oh 00:13:02.03\00:13:04.90 yeah, you need patience. If you don't have patience and you have 00:13:04.94\00:13:09.93 children you need help. You need mercy. You need mercy. OK let's 00:13:09.96\00:13:14.62 go to number 3. Number 3 is to provide opportunity for penitent 00:13:14.65\00:13:19.28 and intercessory prayer. 00:13:21.54\00:13:22.57 And this is within the worship service at a church? 00:13:22.60\00:13:24.85 It is essential to have prayer. Prayer is communicating. 00:13:24.89\00:13:30.51 I taught my kids to pray like they talk to me but with more 00:13:30.54\00:13:36.14 respect. They must pray, not those formal prayers, you know 00:13:36.18\00:13:41.71 those formal prayers, Now I lay me down to sleep, all that stuff 00:13:41.75\00:13:47.09 That's not prayer. That's something that somebody can 00:13:47.12\00:13:51.47 quote. Prayer is speaking to God and he communicates to us 00:13:51.51\00:13:57.43 through his will, through his word. And so now as I pray I 00:13:57.46\00:14:02.20 need to stop and listen to God. In the worship service this is 00:14:02.24\00:14:06.31 very possible. While we're on our knees praying for somebody 00:14:06.34\00:14:10.75 to be healed. While we're on our knees praying for a young lady 00:14:10.79\00:14:14.58 who's in trouble. While we're on our knees even praying for our 00:14:14.62\00:14:18.14 pastor. While we're on our knees praying for spirituality. While 00:14:18.18\00:14:21.67 we're on our knees praying for help. Prayer is very much a 00:14:21.70\00:14:27.70 part of the worship service. And prayer inspires us to speak 00:14:27.73\00:14:33.70 freely and openly to God. 00:14:33.73\00:14:35.88 So now tell me, what is it about because we can pray at home, 00:14:35.92\00:14:39.79 what is it about the prayer when you're actually in a church 00:14:39.82\00:14:45.57 service amongst believers. What is it about that the joint 00:14:45.61\00:14:51.33 prayer that makes it so powerful? 00:14:51.36\00:14:52.39 It binds us, it binds us, it draws us closer, it keeps us 00:14:52.42\00:14:59.35 in a type of mood where we know that we are together. Have you 00:14:59.39\00:15:05.57 ever heard of that saying, let's see, my grandma used to say, the 00:15:05.61\00:15:11.55 family that prays together stays together. And so when you're in 00:15:11.59\00:15:17.50 a congregation and you're praying together and you're 00:15:17.53\00:15:20.31 holding hands you stay together because all of you now realize 00:15:20.35\00:15:25.37 that we're sinners and we have the same problems but we're 00:15:25.41\00:15:30.40 going to get through this together. That's the thing 00:15:30.43\00:15:33.36 about togetherness in prayer. We should pray alone of course 00:15:33.40\00:15:37.66 we should do that in our private time in the morning and the 00:15:37.69\00:15:41.36 evening before we go to bed. That's very important, but in a 00:15:41.40\00:15:45.00 congregational setting what makes worship so beautiful is 00:15:45.04\00:15:48.35 when we even go to the altar and get on our knees and pray. 00:15:48.39\00:15:51.44 It's like we're touching and agreeing. We're praying in a 00:15:51.48\00:15:54.50 community. And it makes us get that much 00:15:54.53\00:15:57.19 closer to God. When I did a week of prayer in a Canadian 00:15:57.23\00:16:02.18 University recently, very interesting. I asked the 00:16:02.21\00:16:07.68 students rather than praying into pews come up to the altar 00:16:07.72\00:16:11.77 and pray. The place was full of students, hundreds of students 00:16:11.81\00:16:15.29 would come up. And they said oooh we never experienced that 00:16:15.33\00:16:18.85 before. Why? Because sometimes we just have that simple prayer 00:16:18.88\00:16:22.37 and that's it but if you do congregational prayer, if you 00:16:22.40\00:16:26.21 kneel and pray, you hold hands and pray, you can stand in 00:16:26.25\00:16:30.97 prayer. Prayer is a time to reach out to God. The Bible 00:16:31.00\00:16:35.69 talks about prayer, pray without ceasing, in 00:16:35.72\00:16:38.36 I Thessalonians. 00:16:38.39\00:16:39.42 So it's like during the day with whatever we're doing, huh? 00:16:39.45\00:16:43.13 The prayer of a righteous, let me get this straight, the prayer 00:16:43.17\00:16:46.90 of a fervent, righteous man availeth much, something like 00:16:46.93\00:16:50.98 that. Hey, the bottom line is that it 00:16:51.01\00:16:52.94 avails much. It avails much. But I guess also the point is the 00:16:52.98\00:16:57.35 righteous person, in other words if we are standing before God 00:16:57.38\00:17:01.72 saying Lord here we are and we just want to have your 00:17:01.75\00:17:07.12 righteousness of Jesus. So it's an easy thing. 00:17:07.15\00:17:10.27 Speak to us Lord in that congregation. That's where we 00:17:10.31\00:17:16.10 connect with God. We connect. That's why I urge people, don't 00:17:16.14\00:17:21.85 sit home. Sitting home having church is not the best type of 00:17:21.88\00:17:27.60 worship service. Go to a local congregation, join with them, 00:17:27.64\00:17:32.57 touch with them, hug them. There are times we need to be hugged, 00:17:32.61\00:17:36.80 embraced, in prayer. There are people who are crying. Sometimes 00:17:36.84\00:17:40.41 we need to hug them and embrace them. And so they feel a sense 00:17:40.44\00:17:43.98 that God is with me because someone else is touching me 00:17:44.01\00:17:48.94 right now. You can't get that at home. You have to get it 00:17:48.98\00:17:53.70 in a joyful fellowship with worshipping God. Let's go to the 00:17:53.73\00:17:58.42 next one. Now this is what I like... 00:17:58.45\00:18:09.54 The Bible should never be used as a hammer even though it has a 00:18:09.58\00:18:13.88 black cover. You're Bible's not black. It's a different color. 00:18:13.92\00:18:18.19 It's a feminine burgundy. Yes it is. But we shouldn't use 00:18:18.22\00:18:21.62 the Bible as a hammer to beat people. 00:18:21.65\00:18:25.62 Yeah. No the Bible is not for that. Why would I want to do 00:18:25.66\00:18:28.32 that? Now the Bible says for the word 00:18:28.35\00:18:29.76 of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword 00:18:29.80\00:18:34.24 piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul. The Bible 00:18:34.28\00:18:40.75 has healing, healing properties. It heals a person. It counsels 00:18:40.78\00:18:46.19 the person. That's why it says in 2 Timothy 2:15: Study to show 00:18:46.23\00:18:50.88 thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be 00:18:50.91\00:18:55.53 ashamed, rightly dividing, rightly dividing the word of 00:18:55.56\00:18:59.94 truth. So when the word of God is proclaimed in the local 00:18:59.97\00:19:04.39 congregation, it's not to beat on the people. Now some people 00:19:04.43\00:19:08.75 would say, Cry aloud and spare not. Lift up thy voice like a 00:19:08.79\00:19:12.50 trumpet and show my people their sins. You can show people 00:19:12.54\00:19:16.67 sins in a redemptive way, not in a way that's going to hurt, 00:19:16.70\00:19:22.03 bruise or condemn. Jesus came not to this world to condemn 00:19:22.06\00:19:27.05 but to save it. And so in this part, proclaiming the word of 00:19:27.09\00:19:32.14 God in clear, compelling and redemptive way. That's a part of 00:19:32.17\00:19:37.13 worship. The word of God must be essential tool for effective 00:19:37.17\00:19:42.10 preaching in the local congregation and that 00:19:42.13\00:19:45.44 is a must. Without the preaching of the word... For faith cometh 00:19:45.48\00:19:51.46 by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's essential. 00:19:51.49\00:19:55.66 I went to a church one time and they said, Oh, we just had a 00:19:55.69\00:19:59.71 video last week. And I said a video, you popped in a video. 00:19:59.74\00:20:03.29 And they said yes. And I said and there was a speaker? Yes. 00:20:03.33\00:20:07.57 Now was the sound system good of was it bad, because remember 00:20:07.60\00:20:11.81 there are people in the congregation who have problems 00:20:11.84\00:20:14.02 with hearing and so you have to make sure even if you pop a tape 00:20:14.06\00:20:17.91 in, make sure that the sound is clear, it's distinct, it feels 00:20:17.94\00:20:21.76 and moves so that people can understand what is being 00:20:21.79\00:20:24.75 preached. Let me give you an example. I went to a small 00:20:24.79\00:20:28.52 little congregation. In fact, it was the first Seventh-day 00:20:28.55\00:20:32.67 Adventist church, English- speaking church, in Canada. 00:20:32.70\00:20:36.75 It's in the Provence of Quebec in Canada. It's about two or 00:20:36.79\00:20:42.24 three hours from Montreal and it's near the United States 00:20:42.28\00:20:46.93 border so some pioneers came over to Quebec and started a 00:20:46.97\00:20:50.81 small English church. It was the first actually Seventh-day 00:20:50.85\00:20:54.95 Adventist church in Canada. Very small and because I have a 00:20:54.99\00:20:59.58 booming voice I was preaching very loud and after the sermon 00:20:59.62\00:21:03.76 this old man who had a problem of hearing, he had two hearing 00:21:03.80\00:21:07.84 aides, he said I want to speak to the pastor. He was blind. He 00:21:07.87\00:21:11.88 said I want to speak to the pastor. And I said, Oh, oh. 00:21:11.91\00:21:15.88 I know what's going to happen now. And so he said son sit down 00:21:15.92\00:21:20.15 And I said OK. And he said, you know what, that's the first time 00:21:20.18\00:21:24.38 I heard a sermon in 15 years. Oh my goodness. 00:21:24.41\00:21:30.96 He said Praise God, Praise God. I said well thank the Lord for 00:21:31.00\00:21:34.61 the encouragement. I thought you were going to condemn me. He 00:21:34.64\00:21:37.93 said, no, the problem is with this church here, they don't 00:21:37.96\00:21:41.22 preach loud enough. I said well praise God! 00:21:41.25\00:21:43.00 Well when we were living out in Sacramento there was an 00:21:43.04\00:21:46.29 individual I can think of in particular who did come to our 00:21:46.33\00:21:49.51 church because he could hear the sermon. So that is about meeting 00:21:49.55\00:21:54.11 people's needs in the congregation isn't it? 00:21:54.14\00:21:57.38 You can be a soft-spoken person but if you need a microphone and 00:21:57.42\00:22:01.01 some speakers to help you out, I think you ought to have it. 00:22:01.05\00:22:04.74 Some people feel that OK I can just speak and they'll hear me. 00:22:04.77\00:22:08.86 Not necessarily. You might find that a lot of people go to sleep 00:22:08.89\00:22:12.95 especially in a congregation. That's the compelling way. 00:22:12.98\00:22:17.00 That is compelling and it must have a sense of urgency. 00:22:17.03\00:22:20.64 The word of God must have a sense of urgency. If it's 00:22:20.68\00:22:23.65 preached in such a way, well everything's wonderful, 00:22:23.68\00:22:26.58 everything is good, everything is fine, I don't think people 00:22:26.62\00:22:31.31 are going to be convinced or convicted by just well 00:22:31.34\00:22:35.02 everything is good, everything is fine. It's like a newspaper. 00:22:35.06\00:22:38.85 You want to read the headlines for that day. It's like 00:22:38.88\00:22:41.61 listening to a news broadcast on television and they're stressing 00:22:41.65\00:22:46.06 something that happened that day and you're like glued to the 00:22:46.09\00:22:49.67 television set because you want to know what happened in your 00:22:49.70\00:22:53.30 community and the word of God has to be similar to that. You 00:22:53.33\00:22:56.93 must stress it, emphasize it, in such a way that people now 00:22:56.97\00:23:00.54 will say wow, man, that's what I need. 00:23:00.57\00:23:04.81 So even if you're not a preacher and you're not going 00:23:04.85\00:23:07.45 to be preaching the word of God in the pulpit, even in sharing 00:23:07.49\00:23:11.02 your faith you want to have some enthusiasm. 00:23:11.05\00:23:12.43 You have to generate enthusiasm. 00:23:12.46\00:23:14.33 Or genuineness; somehow be able to portray a genuine spirit. 00:23:14.37\00:23:18.22 Some people are very soft-spoken. 00:23:18.25\00:23:19.50 Yes they are. But I'm sure there is a way. 00:23:19.54\00:23:22.39 How would you like to go to a wedding and the minister says do 00:23:22.43\00:23:28.02 you take this you know woman and what have you and you get to the 00:23:28.05\00:23:32.37 point where you have to say I do and you'll say something like 00:23:32.41\00:23:37.04 Yeah, I do. Can you imagine if the word was preached that way? 00:23:37.08\00:23:42.60 Yeah, Jesus is OK. He's the savior of the world, believe on 00:23:42.63\00:23:47.73 him. Enthusiasm is very much a part of the gospel. Jesus 00:23:47.77\00:23:53.14 preached with enthusiasm. Now let's look at this. Jesus is 00:23:53.17\00:23:58.74 preaching to 5000 people. He didn't have a microphone, he 00:23:58.78\00:24:04.87 didn't have a sound system. But his voice was strong and 00:24:04.91\00:24:10.53 powerful. The people heard it. Now the Bible said there were 00:24:10.57\00:24:16.25 5000 but there were 5000 men plus children plus women. So I 00:24:16.28\00:24:21.84 can see a coliseum of 15,000 people or more and Jesus is 00:24:21.88\00:24:26.63 preaching to them on a mountain side, preaching with a strong 00:24:26.67\00:24:33.13 voice and they heard the voice of God. A booming voice. That's 00:24:33.16\00:24:39.48 good. Well let's move on to this one. Now this we have to take a 00:24:39.52\00:24:45.81 couple more minutes... 00:24:45.84\00:24:56.42 Now if I would change it around I would say, Express the 00:24:56.46\00:25:01.00 Christian message for those of you who are not Adventist, but 00:25:01.04\00:25:06.18 express a gospel message... 00:25:06.21\00:25:17.82 That was kind of going back to what you were saying about the 00:25:17.86\00:25:23.58 person who couldn't hear. The Bible must be relevant. It must 00:25:23.62\00:25:30.32 create a response. When somebody asks us to give money, would you 00:25:30.35\00:25:35.00 like them to say well just give, you know, as much as you can. 00:25:35.04\00:25:41.13 And the Lord will bless you. If it does not create a response 00:25:41.17\00:25:46.20 you won't have any money that day. I mean, an offering must be 00:25:46.24\00:25:51.43 given to God. There are special offerings at various times. But 00:25:51.46\00:25:56.62 now if there's a special offering, it must be in such a 00:25:56.65\00:25:59.55 way that it creates this response where people say, well 00:25:59.58\00:26:02.41 I'm going to give all that I can give. And the last one is... 00:26:02.45\00:26:05.53 It must be happy, bright, spiritual and essential 00:26:11.41\00:26:15.27 for worship. Now who fosters that? Is that 00:26:15.30\00:26:18.24 the preacher or are those the people who come to the church or 00:26:18.28\00:26:22.15 you know, who's fostering this? 00:26:22.18\00:26:24.58 The plan of the worship is the responsibility of the members 00:26:24.62\00:26:28.32 and the pastor themselves. So then they can create this 00:26:28.35\00:26:32.31 beautiful, joyful worship. 00:26:32.34\00:26:34.61 OK. So I really enjoy this study in worship of God and joyful 00:26:34.65\00:26:39.67 fellowship and for those of you at the beginning of the program 00:26:39.71\00:26:44.13 we mentioned that you would be able to learn some things if you 00:26:44.17\00:26:48.07 were looking for a church to go to or if you weren't satisfied 00:26:48.11\00:26:51.90 with the congregation where you have been attending. It sounds 00:26:51.93\00:26:55.69 like these are the elements for a very wonderful, joyful 00:26:55.72\00:27:01.23 experience in the Lord and the big part is that you can be a 00:27:01.26\00:27:06.74 part of it. Isn't that right? 00:27:06.77\00:27:07.80 Yes, definitely. Well if you'd like to know more 00:27:07.83\00:27:10.32 about today's topic, I encourage you to go to the 3ABN web site 00:27:10.36\00:27:14.13 www.3ABN.org and look up the name 00:27:14.16\00:27:19.52 Jason McCracken and the Review and Herald. 00:27:19.56\00:27:22.30 Yeah, it's on the Review and Herald web site. 00:27:22.33\00:27:25.00 You can send him an e-mail. Yes. Look up Message Magazine. 00:27:25.04\00:27:28.76 It's there. Oh, I think we have a copy of 00:27:28.79\00:27:33.09 Message Magazine don't we. I'll just show this very quickly 00:27:33.13\00:27:36.23 This is Message Magazine, so you can look for this particular 00:27:36.26\00:27:40.66 icon on the web site. And we certainly encourage anyone who 00:27:40.70\00:27:45.16 is looking for a church home, to look for the word of God and 00:27:45.19\00:27:49.26 find that place that will fill your need. God said he would 00:27:49.29\00:27:52.68 supply all of our needs. I attend church and I encourage 00:27:52.72\00:27:56.08 you to do the same. God bless you. 00:27:56.11\00:27:58.47